Homemade play dough

A great little activity we do when we need 'something to do' is homemade playdough. It's quick, easy and allows kids to be so creative. It's also good if you have children of various ages, as toddlers love the sensory stimulation (and chance to smush something) and older kids can make their own little 'science experiments' as you'll read below.

A quick Google search will give you lots of different recipes. We've used this one several times and it's easy.

Homemade playdough
1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/2 cup salt
1 TBS cream of tartar
1 TBS oil
food coloring

Directions:
Heat all ingredients in a saucepan, slow to medium heat. Stir continuously. Once dough is at the consistency you want, remove from heat. Cool before using.

The girls have had great fun with this. After the playdough cooled, I gave them each some balls I quickly rolled, and then they added food colouring (available from the supermarket). The food colouring box also has a little chart with ratios and combinations needed to make aqua, orange, purple etc. This was great fun for the girls as they added drops of different colours and then mixed the colour through. We watched as the playdough changed colour, and they chose which combinations they wanted.

Then we added smells. We did this by adding various food essence, also from the supermarket. I had mint, orange, coconut and strawberry.

The last part was adding glitter. The playdough looked awesome by now and each girl had their own little stash of creations. They took turnings smelling each others. We have done this also with other kids at our place and it is a hit. The mess factor is a little high, but its a great activity.

In our photos you can see Yasmin created birthday cakes using coloured matchsticks and icy pole sticks from our art and craft supply. (We also made this for Yasmin's birthday party last year and put this in the goody bags. We wrapped the playdough ball in cellophane with some bubbles mixture.)

It's always good to keep things like this in your rainy day list. (And yes I have a list. When I have three restless children literally hanging off me I find it a little hard to concentrate!)